Nomination Deadline: March 1

The prize was established and endowed in 1939 by Daniel W. Mead, Hon.M.ASCE, a Society past president. The contest provides an opportunity for alert young civil engineers to further their professional development and gain national attention.

Award

Up to 5 winners will be chosen. First place will receive a plaque. Other winners will receive certificates.

2026 Recipient

  • Sbewu Fipaza, M.ASCE, University of North Dakota

Read the 2026 award-winning paper (PDF)

View all winners

New submission process: For chapters in Region 1-9 attending their regional student symposium, papers should be submitted to the symposium host by March 1st using their preferred means of submittal. For chapters in Region 10 and those not attending a regional symposium, they must be submitted through the Faculty Advisor to [email protected]. All papers must have a statement at the bottom attesting that, except where otherwise cited, the submission is the work of the student author and not AI or NLP. Submissions without this statement will not be considered for recognition. 

2027 Topic

In recent natural disasters, such as the 2023 Türkiye-Syria earthquake catastrophe and the 2025 Camp Mystic tragedy in Hunt, Texas, infrastructure designed to meet standard code was overwhelmed by extreme conditions - intense earthquakes and flash flooding, respectively. In both cases, technical compliance did not prevent loss of life or catastrophic risk to vulnerable populations and infrastructure. The ASCE Code of Ethics states that engineers must "hold paramount the safety, health, and welfare of the public." However, engineers often face intense pressure to balance the level of design risk with strict client budgets, political timelines, and the minimum legal standards of local building codes.

Discuss whether a civil engineer has an ethical and professional obligation to model, plan and design infrastructure for conventional design standards and regulations AND events that exceed standards, even when those designs exceed current legal requirements, client preferences, or budgetary constraints. Please include specific infrastructure projects and/or failures - recent or historic - that support your claims.

Authors are encouraged to develop and apply their own original thoughts. The use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) and natural language processing models (NLP), such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT©, is neither encouraged nor discouraged. However, if such models are used, all instances shall be cited as work completed by the respective generative AI/NLP. Failure to cite all instances of generative AI/NLP use will be considered plagiarism

Entries for the contest shall be limited to 1 paper from each ASCE Student Chapter or AEI Student Organization.

Questions should be directed to ASCE Student Programs.

Rules

  1. The Daniel W. Mead Prize for Students may be awarded annually on the basis of a paper on professional ethics. Each year the specific topic of the contest for the forthcoming year shall be selected by the Committee on Student Members for the Student Award.
  2. Members of Student Organizations of the Society who are in good standing at the time their papers are submitted are eligible for the contest, unless they have previously received the national award for which they are competing.
  3. Papers for the national contests shall (a) be limited to 1 paper from each Student Organization; (b) not exceed 2,000 words in length; (c) be written by only 1 person; and (d) not have previously been published in other school or Society publications.
  4. The Committee on Student Members shall review submissions and recommend the top five student papers as Society finalists, of which one may be selected as the national winner for approval by the Executive Committee.
  5. All finalists shall receive an appropriate certificate recognizing their achievements. If there is a national winner, they shall receive a wall plaque rather than a certificate.

Nomination

To nominate, a completed submission will consist of a single .pdf file containing:

  1. Cover letter, from the Faculty Advisor stating the name, ASCE/AEI member ID number, phone number, and e-mail address for the paper's author.
  2. The paper being submitted.

The name of the file shall follow this format:

Mead Student Prize - Author's Last Name - Name of University.pdf

For student chapters in Region 1-9 who will be attending their regional student symposium, papers should be submitted to the symposium host by March 1st using their preferred means of submittal. For chapters in Region 10 and those not attending a regional symposium, they must be submitted through the Faculty Advisor to [email protected] and must be received on or before 11:59 pm (EST) March 1.